iPad question No. 1: Can you save and transfer documents to the iPad?

Anyone who uses an iPhone or iPod Touch with an office productivity app such as Quickoffice knows how frustrating it is to access Office documents. You have to set up a wireless connection over a local Wi-Fi network, enter the IP address, and transfer the files, or you send the document via email on an Exchange account so that it can be opened as an attachment.

Apple says its "no save" restriction is meant to prevent malware from being placed on the iPhone or iPod Touch. I've never bought that argument, as the iPhone and iPod Touch allow you to save images to what is essentially a folder and sync those images via iTunes -- so why not other file types? Of course, that may be a loophole Apple is closing: The iPad's Photos app (a photo gallery), like the iWork for iPad app, appears to do away with saved photo files altogether, instead embedding them into the app itself.

iPad question No. 3: Does the iPad support VPN and configuration management?

If the iPad doesn't support Exchange, I can't imagine it wouldn't work with VPN and configuration management, two capabilities that the iPhone and iPod Touch can claim.

Although the iPhone and iPod Touch doesn't support over-the-air management of the device or its security capabilities, they do support these capabilities using emailed or Web-downloaded configuration files. This management approach is nowhere usable for enterprises, as it gives no assurance that users have the right configuration, but small businesses with local IT staff can deal with it. (Yes, several vendors such as Good Technology now offer more enterprise-class management tools for the iPhone.)

If Apple has pulled these capabilities from the iPad, then almost no business can seriously allow an iPad onto its network. Apple won't say.

iPad question No. 4: Can you use media services other than iTunes on the iPad?

The idea of a highly portable media player is compelling -- I'd love to have one when traveling so that I could watch Netflix programs in the hotel, rather than be stuck with the usually uninteresting hotel cable fare. My MacBook Pro gets too hot to place in my lap, and watching a DVD or streaming video on the MacBook while sitting in a hotel desk is not very pleasant.

But there is no way to watch Netflix streamed video -- or that of similar services -- on an iPad. On an iPhone or iPod Touch, the screen size doesn't make for great movie-watching, so the lack of a Netflix app on those devices isn't so bothersome. On an iPad, it will be. So far, it appears that iTunes will be your only quality media source on the iPad (YouTube doesn't qualify; it's more of a needle-in-the-haystack source for amusing clips), which means you can't use a service from someone else that you already paid for; instead, you'll need to give Apple money. Maybe using my laptop isn't so bad an option after all.

Posted by: Sean RBecause lack of flash really killed the iPhone?

Apart from I don't think Apple really wants html5 to succeed either. If it did there would be no real need for apps as they would run on each smartphone in pretty much the same way. Moving between an IPhone, Blackberry and Android (and maybe Windows Phone 7) would be easy and Apple wants to keep people locked in.

"We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."